


My Favorite Vacation Spot

by HerenorThereNearnorFar



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 02:29:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3674121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerenorThereNearnorFar/pseuds/HerenorThereNearnorFar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She doesn't know why her mom hates the town so much. It's fun. Or; Beach City From the Outside</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Favorite Vacation Spot

**Author's Note:**

> The result of some serious consideration on how Beach City supports it's economy with the regular destruction and how someone from the regular(ish) world would treat it. Because as far as tourist towns go it's a disaster magnet. And the rest of the Steven Universe world can't possibly be as weird.

"Mommy, I'm thirsty." piped up a high voice from the back seat.

Jules suppressed a smile. Her little sister could always be counted on when it mattered. Now if Terry would pull through for them... two year olds were so undependable... 

There was silence from his car seat.

Luckily Gina was old enough to understand the gravity of the situation and repeated plaintively, "Mommmy! I'm thirsty." 

In the corner of her eye Jules could see her mother's brow crease. "Can you wait until we get to grandpa's, sweetie? Or we could stop at that little farmer's market!!" 

"No! Thirsty! And," Gina added with a sniff, "I have to go to the bathroom. Really bad."

Terrence must have finally gotten his cue because he wailed "Bathroom!" in reply. Mom scrunched up her nose and sighed.

Outside the window the highway rushed away, dull grass and glimpses of water slipping in and out of sight, lit up by the low sun. Jules had timed it perfectly; there were no exits after the next one for a few dozen miles, long enough to make a mother with one toilet training child and one still in the danger zone worry. She kept her face serene as her mother shot her a suspicious side glance.

"Just a bathroom stop." Mom finally agreed, looking pained.

The car turned off the highway to Beach City. 

 

 

Every year, rain or shine, Mom packed the three of them up and took them down from New Jersey to their grandfather's little house on the Chesapeake. Jules usually got bored shortly after Amish country and zoned out, buggies were the only interesting part of the trip. Well, buggies and Beach City. They had first stopped there when Jules was four. She could still remember it. Her mother had needed to nurse Gina and so she had taken them to the nearest tourist trap she could find so they could park. Jules had begged for ice cream and then... four year old memories weren't terribly accurate but Jules could remember a lot of screaming and giant, shiny bugs. 

It was the best thing ever. The next year Gina was still nursing and they had ended up there again. That time there hadn't been any screaming or monsters but half the boardwalk had been in shambles. Jules had played in the sand dunes and nearly gotten lost. Gina took advantage of her newfound walking abilities, found the kitschiest stuffed crab in the ruins of a souvenir shop, and didn't let it go. She still had it with her other toys. 

After that time Mom had sworn never to go back there again. Grandpa had backed her up, saying that area of Delmarva had was cursed. For once Mom didn't roll her eyes at him, just nodded empathetically. 

Year three was the result of a well thrown tantrum that her, at the time pregnant, mother couldn't cope with in a moving vehicle. Jules still considered it her greatest stroke of genius that, even at six, she had managed to read the exit sign, remember the last year, and put together a flawless, if blunt, plan to get them to return. 

There were no adventures that time but there were good fries on the boardwalk and she was pretty sure she had seen a fairy princess (Who else was so short and purple?) on the beach so Jules counted it as a success.

The fourth time involved a lot of pinching Gina and then a fair bit of dumping her water bottle over Gina. A girl at a pizza place had helped them and while Mom cleaned up her sister and consoled her brother, Jules had eaten pizza and seen a car with a head on it and played on the boardwalk with a boy who had a rock in his stomach and who said he lived in a giant statue. Sure, Jules got grounded for two weeks because she was "disruptive and cruel and snuck out of the restaurant when I told you not to, Julia!" but it was fun. 

Certainly fun enough that now, at eight, Jules was doing it again. Maybe there would be shiny bugs and fairies again and if not it was nice to pull something off. 

 

 

As they approached the huddle of buildings that clung to the edge of the beach, Mom's hands tightened around the steering wheel. 

"We'll find a place to stop quickly and then we'll get right back in the car." she warned. Jules and Gina nodded. Mom could be so ridiculous sometimes.

Looking around, Jules spotted a few likely spots but settled on a donut shop they hadn't visited before. She pointed, "Mom, over there."

"Right." Mom swerved into a parking spot and went to go unbuckle Terrence. Jules went around the other side of the car and got Gina, who wasn't clever enough to do her car seat buckles by herself yet. 

They trudged down to the Big Donut in frosty silence. Jules tried to stop Gina from skipping. The kid needed to learn to quieter about her victories if she was going to get anywhere in life. Inside the shop Mom bought a few waters and a box of donuts and then quietly asked the woman behind the counter where the restroom was. After she took Gina and Terrance in, Jules was left with the donuts and the quiet whistling of the red-haired guy stocking the mini-fridge. 

She wandered up to the counter as casually as possible. The blonde lady manning it peered down at her. "Can I help you with anything?"

Jules blinked and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Have there been any explosions around her recently?"

The lady paused and then laughed a little. "Been here before, have you? No. It's been a quiet few days." 

The red haired boy scoffed. "It just means it'll get weird again next week."

Jules frowned. Next week wasn't any fun. She scrambled back to the box of donuts, so Mom wouldn't suspect anything when she came out of the bathroom, and watched the beach. At least it was pretty and they had gotten donuts out of it. 

When her family finally exited Mom was carrying Terrance and had a steely expression on her face. She barely acknowledged the donut woman's cheerful farewell, which wasn't like Mom at all. She was usually so polite. Jules thought she was slipping. As they began the labourous process of loading the little kids into the car Jules noted a giant fish flying down the beach. She stopped to watch, of course, and Mom noticed her hesitance, followed her line of sight and said a couple of words that Jules thought shouldn't be said around kids at little as Gina and Terrance. 

"Jules, get in the car." Mom ordered. Jules obeyed for once, still watching the giant round fish with glee. There were people hitting it, but Jules couldn't make out details. It was still great. This was what you put together complicated plots for; weird giant fish creatures. Mom finally managed to get the kids wrestled into their car seats, not helped along by the fact that Gina and Terrance were staring and pointing at the spectacle on the beach. They started to pull out and Jules had resigned herself to not seeing the end of the fight, when a roughly human sized object was rocketed through the air from the far end of the beach to the boardwalk, landing near the pizza place, Jules guessed.

Gina was wide eyed. "That lady flew."

Mom looked upset. "We are never coming back to this town again."

And Jules thought it was the best vacation ever.


End file.
